Arrived in Novocherkassk, with intentions not only to find temporary shelter but also to start working, if it’s possible, that is.
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The South-eastern corner of Russia is an area of relative peace and comparative governmental order and stability; here there isn’t anarchy, there isn’t even harshly declaimed class struggle, apart – to a certain extent – from coal and ore regions.

On July 29th Kerensky presided at a conference at G.H.Q., which was also attended by Tereshchenko and General Alexyeev; by General Brusilov and his Chief of Staff, General Lukhomski; by Generals Ruzski and Klembovski, former and present Com- manders-in-Chief of the Northern Front; by General Denikin, then Commander-in-Chief of the Western Front; and by Savinkov, Commissary of the South-West Front.
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General Denikin spoke out as a brave and experienced soldier, demanding the abolition of all elected committees in the army and the restoration of all authority and disciplinary power to officers. He seems to have been only half-heartedly supported by his comrades, and no definite decision was reached.

The mood at Headquarters is serious. The new High Commanding General Brusilov, immediately adopted a more than unseemly and ingratiating tone with the Mogilyov Soviet of Workers and Soldiers. Under General Alekseev, this Soviet acted cautiously and never chose to openly present any demands to Headquarters.
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General Brusilov’s behavior immediately lent the members of the Soviet a new sense of daring, and it soon sent a mandate to High Command to adopt measures for the elimination of a “counterrevolutionary nest” at Headquarters.

The commander in chief, General Alekseyev, and Minister of Trade and Industry Konovalov have resigned. The situation is dire. War and Navy Minister Kerensky incessantly travels around the front, he is a very popular minister.

My course of action as well as General Alekseyev’s did not correspond with the views of the Provisional Government, and a collaboration with General Brusilov was unthinkable in view of the total divide between our views… Brusilov and I lived through many trying but, more importantly, joyful days of military happiness together—unforgettable days, and now it has become difficult for me to speak with him, with this different Brusilov, who has so improvidently lost not only for himself (that’s unimportant), but also for the army, all the former charm of his name.
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Occasionally, as he was reading his report to us, Brusilov would interrupt himself and say in agitation:

“Anton Ivanovich! So you think I don’t find it repulsive to brandish the red flag? Well, what to do? Russia is ill, the army is ill. We must heal it. And I know of no other medicine.”

The question of my significance meant more to him than I did. I declined to state my own wishes, saying I would go wherever I was told.

A telegram came in the night announcing the dismissal of General Alekseyev from his post, with an appointment at the disposal of the Provisional Government, and his replacement with General Brusilov. The commander-in-chief, who was asleep, was woken by the quartermaster general and handed the telegram.
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The old chief was shaken to the core, and tears came to his eyes. So for the time being, he is leaving the limelight, a very important statesman and military leader among whose virtues (or faults) was an unswerving devotion to the Provisional Government

In appeals, in orders and in the daily columns of the press, we often come across this short phrase: “The Homeland is in danger”. We are too used to this phrase. We read it as though it were an old chronicle about days gone by and we do not reflect upon the menacing meaning of this short phrase. But unfortunately, gentlemen, this is the hard truth. Russia is dying.
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She stands on the brink of the abyss, and with a few more steps forward and she will tumble with all her weight into this abyss. The enemy has occupied an eighth of her territory. It cannot be bribed with the utopian phrase “a world without annexation or indemnity”. It openly declares that it will not abandon our land. It stretches its greedy paw to where the enemy soldiers have never been before – to the rich Volyn, Podolia, Kiev; in other words, to the entire right bank of our Dnieper.

The ever-growing danger of anarchy spreading throughout the whole country, the continued disintegration of the army, and the impossibility to continue the war under the present conditions, forcefully demand the passing of an Imperial Edict that can still appease the minds, which can only be done by calling on the respective ministry and instructing the chairman of the Duma with drafting it.